Vicodin no Jutsu
by Omega19x
Summary: Special jonin House takes on the case of a critically injured ANBU. But unraveling the shinobi's secrets may prove to be more dangerous than any of his team bargained for. - Naruto/House M.D. Crossover. COMPLETE
1. More Than Meets the Eye

Insert Disclaimer Here: I own nothing. In fact, I own so much nothing that even the Naruto headband I have is a mere Chinese knockoff... Literally. The package was completely covered in Chinese stamps when it finally arrived.

...

Once a hidden village, Yugakure had changed dramatically since it was founded. The large walls had been torn down, and now, ordinary citizens greatly outnumbered the few remaining shinobi. The hospital, however, still served as a training ground for medical ninja, and the prowess of its diagnostics department made it a haven for anyone unfortunate enough to fall victim to unusual circumstances or rare disease.

Some days, however, were more exciting than others.

It had been at least a week since an interesting case file crossed the desk of special jonin House. The last one was a merchant who came in with high blood pressure and recurring headaches. In less than a day, his team had correctly found the pheochromocytoma, and the man underwent surgery. It was, without a doubt, another successful mission.

Since then, and in spite of the recent turmoil in neighboring countries, everything in Yugakure had been routine – an old woman suffered a stroke, a young boy fractured his arm practicing a complicated taijutsu drill, and a teacher was complaining of gallstones.

Doctors Alison Cameron, Eric Foreman and Robert Chase spent most of their afternoon on a leisurely break. A large window stretched across the hospital skybridge, one of their favorite places to gather, and from there, hey could see all the way to the edge of the village.

"Look at that." Foreman pointed out the scene first.

A foreign shinobi at the village gates was carrying a cloaked man on his back. He spent only a second talking to the border guard, before picking up speed again, and he was headed their way. Cameron glanced over and bit her lip. Anyone running that fast was obviously working against time.

"Okay, break time's over." Foreman announced. "House will be assigning us this case in twenty minutes. Tops."

"Don't you think the guys down in the emergency room can handle that?"

"Are you serious, Chase?" Foreman countered. "Don't tell me you didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

"No. Did you?"

"They were ANBU. One was in full uniform, and the man on his back was wearing their cloak." Cameron answered. "They're assigned only to the dangerous and most secretive missions. Assassinations, tracking, surveillance… we haven't seen Black Ops soldiers out this far in years."

"So whatever he was involved in has to be of national importance." Chase finally nodded. "Interesting enough to warrant House's attention, yeah. I'll give you that…."

"Not just that."

Chase fell silent, and turned to Cameron. Now it was her turn to be perplexed.

"His hands were bandaged." Foreman finally added, as he leaned up against the glass, scratching his chin in thought.

"He was obviously injured, or they wouldn't have been coming to the hospital in the first place. So what?"

"His legs weren't. And yet, he was being carried. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

Cameron glanced at Chase for a moment.

"… Actually, it does…" Cameron spun back toward Foreman. "The ANBU are some of the most elite ninja in the world. When I did my residency at a facility in Kohonagakure, it was the ANBU who, more often than not, walked in under their own power, regardless of how badly they were hurt."

"Which means that can't be just a normal battle wound." Chase added.

"Right. There has to be more to that injury than meets the eye."

Chase cracked a grin and placed a firm hand on Foreman's shoulder.

"Nothing escapes you. Sometimes, I swear the Hyuga clan must have put you up for adoption."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Foreman laughed.


	2. Underneath the Bandages

The doors to the emergency room burst open, and the ANBU soldier skidded to a stop. The surprise was probably enough to catch the attention of every attendant on that floor, and there was no shortage of bodies hurrying toward the odd pair.

"There's something wrong with my partner. I need help!" the masked soldier fought to catch his breath. Having finally stopped running, his legs began to betray him and he staggered slightly under the weight.

\Within moments, two orderlies were lifting the injured man from his back.

The soldier finally dropped to his knees in relief. He pulled the porcelain mask from his face, tucking it out of sight. His hair may have been white, but his face was young. He couldn't have been older than nineteen or twenty.

"What happened?"

"I'm not entirely certain." He coughed as he wiped the sweat from his brow and adjusted his glasses. "The details of the mission were a secret. But it was… it was some kind of assassination attempt that went horribly wrong."

That was an understatement.

Any mediocre genin within arm's reach of the man could have picked up on the unusual flow of chakra. But it wasn't until the doctors stripped him of his cloak and mask that they really got a good look of what they were dealing with.

His skin wasn't just pale. It was ghastly white, and his long black hair was literally dripping with sweat. Both arms had been bandaged from the tips of his fingers up past his shoulders. Although he was slipping in and out of consciousness his expression was a painful, unchanging grimace.

As one doctor began examining his vitals, another started cutting through the dressings.

"I have some medical training." The soldier added, timidly coming closer. "I've been treating his condition the best I could, but…"

"His pulse is racing…"

"Heart rate is pushing 200 bpm, sir… Blood pressure is falling!"

The team leader readied an IV. "Get him stabilized before he falls any further into…Oh… my god…"

As a chunin who had once served in an operational unit, he'd seen his fair share of battle wounds. But nothing, not field training, not medical expertise, no, absolutely nothing could have prepared him for what was hidden underneath those bandages.

At first, both arms looked to be a covered in a massive bruise. But as the bandages were removed, rotten skin cracked and peeled, reopening wound after bleeding wound. In some places, it was just blood. In others, pus oozed in a nauseating palate of greens and browns. The stench it produced was overwhelming. The team leader put a hand over his mouth, stumbling backwards over his own equipment. His needle clattered on the floor.

"What… what is that?"

"That's why I came here!" the soldier insisted. He kept his composure far better than the surrounding doctors, forcing himself to look down at his partner without flinching. "The best I could do was try to ease his pain, but I couldn't do anything else."

"For… for how long?"

"About a week. We've sought out the best doctors we could find, but they weren't able to help him."

"It's like he's opened at least four of the eight gates… except there's no evidence of chakra overflow… It's killing him." One of the attending doctors added. "Even if we get him stable it won't last long. We should get him into an operating room, and have his arms amputated immediately."

Upon hearing that, the young ANBU pushed his way past the others.

"No! You can't say that!"

"It's the truth." The doctor was more than ready to defend himself. "It's his arms or his life at this point!"

"He's a shinobi, just like us! Without arms, he can't make any hand signs. He can't utilize his chakra. He can't activate jutsu! He might as well have lost his life!"

"Calm down… calm down. Both of you."

The team leader stepped between his subordinate and the soldier before words could turn into actual blows.

"Sho, get him stabilized as best you can. Move your chakra toward a synchronized cardioversion, starting energy dose of 100 Jules to get his heart back to a normal rhythm. In the meantime," he looked at the ANBU, "you tell me everything you know so I can send this case up to special jonin House. If anyone can figure out what's going on, and maybe find a way to save both your partner's arms and his life, he can."

The soldier forcefully held back his tears.

"Thank you. Thank you…"

"It's the least we can do, Mr…" the doctor paused. "What was your name, again?"

"I am afraid my orders require me to operate under secrecy." He bowed politely. "Even at a time like this."

"It's all right. We understand."


	3. Think Fast

In the shinobi world, medical ninja were a curious contradiction in terms. Trained to be killers, but serving as healers, the job required high intelligence, impeccable chakra control and, above all else, perfection. They have to dodge every strike and avoid every blow, staying alive for the sake of their squad. Reality is harsh and unforgiving. If the healer is ever injured, the mission will fail. Everybody may die.

That fact alone made special jonin House an even larger contradiction in terms.

His reputation as a diagnostician started in Hoshigakure, when he discovered the cause of an epidemic of mass organ failure among star shinobi. But despite solving case after difficult case, he managed to fall victim to an unusual, but devastating, attack. Finding little relief from the constant pain other than the temporary comfort of vicodin, he'd retired to Yugakure for their famous hot springs. His reputation followed, as did the difficult cases.

Crippled, yet brilliant, word of his skill was slowly spreading throughout the five great nations. He took personal pride in doing the impossible, in solving the unsolvable. He only trained students who could challenge him. He only took on patients that interested him, and it looked like this case would certainly not disappoint.

House propped his legs up on the table, and studied the file for a few minutes. Once he'd satisfied his initial interest, he tossed it down the table to the rest of his team and pulled several kunai out of his vest pocket.

"This is an interesting one. Think fast." House smiled, throwing one of his knives over Foreman's head toward the medical dummy hanging in the corner of the room. Foreman sunk down in his chair a couple of inches, but was otherwise unfazed. He just glanced back up at House. "Left lung. Five points." he smirked, and then looked back at his team.

None of them moved.

"I mean about the case too. Go ahead. It's not like I'm going to aim for your heads while you're not looking." He waved a kunai dismissively. "I don't get any points for that."

Chase glanced around the table, and finally opened the folder.

"Aren't you the trusting one." House smirked. "Patient's a fifty-one year old male shinobi, presenting with high fever, severe pain, erratic chakra levels, cardiac distress and hypotension. Both arms are necrotic, and nobody down there is smart enough to figure out what might have triggered any of it."

House threw another kunai, narrowly grazing the top of Foreman's head.

"If you couldn't guess, that's our job now."

"Those arms…" Chase balked at the pictures and passed it on to Cameron. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Told you, twenty minutes. Tops." Foreman glanced at the pictures and passed the file back to House.

"Ideas?"

"You mean besides removing the necrotic tissue?" Chase volunteered. "Surely the team leader downstairs suggested amputating immediately."

"Patient, or rather, his partner, refuses. Something about needing his arms in order to perform jutsu. Funny how that works. Don't worry. They're prepared to consult with a surgeon against his wishes." House added, breaking out into an almost malevolent grin. "But Cuddy's given us until sundown to come up with a diagnosis before they start slicing and dicing Mr. Arm-BU."

A series of nervous glances moved across the table. If House only had until sundown, it meant they only had until sundown. Even from a few pictures, they could tell that the damage was extensive. There wasn't much time to spare before the only options they could choose from included amputation or death.

"Chakra circulatory system is blocked. That means blood vessels are probably also blocked." Cameron volunteered. "It would explain the cardiac irregularities. And the blockage of the latter would undoubtedly cause blockage of the former."

"Arteriosclerosis would be the most common cause of decreased blood flow to the extremities for someone his age." Chase added. "But that's highly unlikely for a shinobi, especially for an ANBU."

"Symptoms might be related to a defect in the vessel or surrounding muscles." Foreman explained. "Given a high level of physical activity, enlarged scalene muscles could be compressing the subclavian artery or the components of the brachial plexus. That would restrict blood flow. Insufficient blood flow, and chakra can't circulate either."

"Could also be thromboembolism." Cameron added. "Blood vessel injury could have caused a series of clots. Those break loose, block the major blood vessels, oxygen decreases, lactic acid and other metabolic products accumulate, necrosis isn't far behind."

House twirled a kunai around his index finger, and glanced down at his right leg. He didn't need much time to weigh the suggestions.

"Thromboembolism fits." He concluded. The light-hearted cynical voice was gone, leaving a dead seriousness in its place. "Do an MRA to confirm the blockages and find the site of injury. You'll need it in the operating room. In the meantime, start him on herapin. 80 units per kilogram push, and then 18 units per kilogram every hour."

The team nodded, hurrying out of their chairs. They all knew there was a strong possibility that the damage was already done, and that even with medication it would be irreversible. But they could at least prevent it from getting worse.

House waited until they were gone before letting out a deep breath and throwing another kunai at the dummy.

"Oooh, liver. Three points."


	4. Secrets

Having an ANBU as a patient attracted enough attention on its own. The fact that said shinobi's condition was hovering on critical was downright contagious. But fortunately, Lisa Cuddy was well versed in keeping rumors at bay. She insisted upon giving the man a secluded room in the farthest corner of intensive care. Not only was there was more security and fewer visitors, but he would be seen only by the best that her staff had to offer. Whether or not the staff would agree, however, was still to be determined.

The nurse on duty was more than a little apprehensive about changing the patient's bandages. It wasn't the smell of rotting flesh that bothered her. No, she had far more composure than most Chunins in her department. Instead, it was the ever-present stare of the patient's partner. She despised working with someone looking over her shoulder, and he took it to a frightening new level.

His expression was difficult to place, and that's why it was so unnerving. Exhaustion, concern and dread were written across his face. His eyes, though, were watching with cold, calculating precision. It was as if he was studying her every move, poised like a snake ready to strike at the mere thought of a mistake. Needless to say, she was pleased when the task was done, and she left the room in darkness, hoping at least one of its occupants would get some sleep.

That didn't happen.

"Is… is she gone?" a weak voice hissed as the door slid shut.

It was answered in a composed monotone. "Yes."

"Tsunade… if only… Tsunade… But she would rather kill me than heal me."

"Do not concern yourself with her, my lord. She will come to regret her choice. Even without her help, you will still…."

"Kabuto, you are wasting your breath!" he sneered. "She is the best medical shinobi the world has ever known."

The other ninja nodded calmly.

"That may be so. But she is not the only one. We both know there are others with considerable skill, who, although they may not be the best, they can still do the job. That is why I brought you here. And while we are here, it would be wise to not say my name out loud again" He pulled his chair closer to the bedside. "The longer both of our identities are concealed, Lord Orochimaru, the better."

Orochimaru responded only with a pained grumble.

Confined to the hospital bed, there was little else he could do. Both arms had been propped up on either side of him, and he didn't have the energy to move them from their pillows.

And given the poor condition of those arms, almost everything had to be monitored in an unusual, if not invasive, way. A web of IVs was connected through a central line. A catheter in the pulmonary artery was measuring cardiac output. Kabuto glanced at the readings on the monitor, nervously biting his lip. His fever was rising again, and with it, his heart rate was starting to climb."

"Your file has already been delivered to special jonin House. It will not be long now until we can both put this matter behind us." Kabuto whispered softly.

He dipped a washcloth in a nearby basin, wringing it out before he placed it on Orochimaru's forehead. He merely winced, and the door opened again. Kabuto let his breath hitch, and his voice quiver. He stood up, and hurried over to the new visitors.

"Are you House's cell? Tell me it's not too late, that there's something you can do!"

Chase walked in first. He answered the worried ANBU soldier with a quick nod.

"Yeah, we work for House." Chase introduced himself and his colleagues. "And we're going to do everything we can. We promise. But we have to work fast."

Foreman nodded, setting up an additional IV. Chase drew samples of blood. Cameron, meanwhile, turned to the young soldier.

"We think that a series of clots could be cutting off the blood and chakra to your partner's arms. If we can dissolve the clots and prevent new ones from forming, we have a chance of saving them."

"Blood clots?"

Cameron nodded. "The original problem could have started anywhere, from any injury he sustained on the current mission, and then spread. We're going to run some more tests, but anything you can tell us will help narrow down the search. The quicker we can find the initial injury, the better."

"We were separated by enemy shinobi. By the time I found him again, all I could focus on were his arms. He… he was in pain and it was getting worse. He said they felt heavy. I didn't notice any other obvious injuries."

"Nothing at all?" Chase asked.

"His chest was slightly tender. He might have taken a punch or two. I didn't think anything of it at the time…" he quickly changed the subject. "Will that medicine you're giving him get rid of the clots?"

"Not exactly." Foreman answered. "It mainly keeps new clots from forming. But it will also help his body break down the clots that are already there."

"Don't worry. We're going to take him down to radiology, and by the time we're done, we should all begin to see some improvement."

"He's my partner. I'm coming with you." Kabuto announced rather firmly.

Chase nodded almost immediately. Civilians weren't granted such privileges, but shinobi were.

"Suit yourself."


	5. Actions and Reactions

Kabuto followed the other doctors as they weaved through several long hallways. To them, he was merely the doting, concerned partner. As a ninja and an ANBU, he'd no doubt taken a vow to protect his teammate at all costs. Little did they know that his loyalties ran much deeper.

"You'll be able to watch the procedure from this room." Cameron gestured to a large window overlooking the machine. With the catheter already in place, there wasn't need for further anesthesia. They could get started almost immediately.

She led the soldier into the room, while Foreman and Chase checked over the equipment.

"What's happening?" he asked nervously as he sat down beside her.

"This will help us locate the clots, and get rid of them." She explained as she flipped the switches on some nearby monitors. "The contrast dye will allow us to see the blood vessels, and where they're blocked. From there, we can use a balloon catheter to press the clot against the walls of the vessel, and draw it out."

"Will it… hurt?"

"We sedated him back in the room. He shouldn't feel a thing."

Kabuto nodded, and turned his attention to the monitor.

"We're going to inject the dye." Chase's voice echoed over the room's speakers.

Cameron pressed a small button below her microphone as Foreman sat down beside her.

"Go ahead."

Chase kept one eye on his monitor and the other on his patient, guiding the catheter inward. The dye rushed through the patient's arteries, and a detailed road map of blood vessels appeared on the monitors. They took pictures, studying the images as they went. They were looking for thromboses, for emboli. To their surprise, however, was what they didn't see.

"I… I don't see anything yet…" Cameron could hardly believe it. She glanced back at Foreman. If he could spot foreign shinobi from halfway across the village, he could find a blood clot on a monitor.

"I don't either…" he whispered, equally stunned. "Medication couldn't have acted that fast. And even if it did, it wouldn't have dissolved the existing clots. We should be able to see something soon."

The next image came through. It was blurred.

"Hang on…"

Foreman reached for the microphone, but before he could press the button, Chase answered.

"Hang on. He's shivering… but fever's 102 and climbing."

The electrocardiogram started beeping wildly.

"He's tachycardic!" Chase shouted. "Blood pressure is off the charts!"

"What's going on?"

Cameron and Foreman leapt into the next room. They reached their patient so quickly; the chairs they were sitting in were still spinning. Kabuto, of course, wasn't far behind.

"Allergic reaction to the dye?" Cameron asked.

"No. I think it's the herapin..." Chase interrupted. "He's having a heart attack!"

"A systemic reaction? This quickly? It doesn't make any sense!"

"I need a crash cart in here!" Foreman shouted to one of the attendants.

Orochimaru's breath came in short, labored gasps. His body twitched. Despite sedation, the sudden trauma was excruciating. His eyes shot open and he grit his teeth. Were it not for his damaged arms and the semi-medicated stupor, he would have been clutching his chest in a vain attempt at making the pain go away.

Cameron suddenly froze, even as the crash cart was pushed in behind her.

Foreman pulled it toward him, snapping his fingers in front of her face.

"Get chakra flowing!" he shouted. "I'm charging!"

Cameron's mind jumped back to the situation at hand. Green energy flowed over her hands as Cameron pressed them against the patient's chest. Chase, meanwhile, was maneuvering the balloon catheter through the coronary arteries.

"I'm still in, I think can get it. Abort the infarction before it does any serious damage."

Foreman, meanwhile, rubbed the paddles together.

"If you're going to do it, you better do it now."

Chase didn't bother to give Foreman's comment a second thought.

"Cameron, keep him steady! Get rid of the drip. The anticoagulant's doing more harm than good!"

"I'm trying…" she replied quickly. She managed to undo the IV with one hand, while simultaneously pumping chakra into his body. "I'm trying!"

"What's going on?" Kabuto tried to get closer, but Foreman blocked his path.

"Almost there…"

"Hurry."

"Foreman! I'm going as fast as I can."

"What are you doing to him? Let me through!"

"I see it…"

"Vitals are dropping!"

"Hang on!"

A few agonizing moments later, Chase retracted the catheter, drawing the clot out of the vessel. It broke apart as he worked, but in the end, it came out in five tiny pieces. Orochimaru's heart rate started to stabilize. Chase let out a deep breath, and finally wiped his sweaty brow with his sleeve.

With the crisis momentarily averted, Foreman could no longer hold Kabuto back.

The ninja thought momentarily about aborting this mission, about getting himself and Orochimaru out of there. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option, especially with Orochimaru's condition deteriorating this way. Unwilling to blow his cover so soon, all he could really do was take his master's bandaged hand in weak attempt at a comforting gesture.

"Let's get him back into intensive care. Get him started on a different anticoagulant."

"Warafin will only worsen the developing necrosis." Foreman added. "But there's no reason why he wouldn't be able to tolerate Lepirudin."

Chase nodded. Cameron, meanwhile, was unusually quiet.


	6. Reassurance

Foreman hung a different IV, and soon, Orochimaru and Kabuto were alone again. The former was heavily sedated, but the latter was restless.

Unable to do much else, Kabuto simply sat by his master's bedside. The nervous desire to do something, anything, with his hands was overwhelming. So, with or without permission, he began the painstaking task of changing Orochimaru's dressings.

"I apologize for their failures, my lord." He whispered, slowly unwrapping the pressure bandage. The discoloration hadn't worsened, but that didn't say much. Pus still seeped from the cracks in his skin, and each tiny wound had to be thoroughly cleaned. "Apparently, your body reacted poorly to the medicine. But don't worry. They changed it, and I have already taken the liberty of testing it for poison. Just in case."

He dipped a cotton ball into an antibacterial solution, and gently dabbed it on Orochimaru's shoulder.

"It's clean." He added, after a few seconds of thought.

He continued cleaning the arm, inch by painful inch, and then started to wrap it again. He started at the shoulder, slowly winding his way down past Orochimaru's wrists. He bandaged each finger individually, then wrapping another layer of gauze around his hand.

"Fortunately, your suffering has not been for naught, my lord." Kabuto whispered. He sighed painfully under his breath. If there was ever a time to admit his failure, this was it. "It looks like I was wrong in my initial assumptions. Although we have not yet discovered how the curse actually works, we have discovered how it doesn't.."

He fluffed a pillow, and propped up the newly bandaged limb.

"I observed their tests. I can confirm their findings are as correct. The curse doesn't act like a blood clot, even though I thought it should. There is nothing to reopen, because there is nothing being blocked."

Kabuto stood, and made his way to the other side of the bed. He repeated the process, just as before, taking just as much care.

"But as soon as we can narrow down exactly how the curse works, we can be that much closer to a cure."

He fluffed another pillow, and propped this arm up as well. He took another glance at the monitors. Vitals were stable for the time being.

"Just leave everything to me." Kabuto bowed. "You will survive. You will become the ultimate immortal. Special jonin House will find the answer. And as for the rest… just leave everything else to me."


	7. Differentials

"It's not thromboembolism."

The door to House's office swung open, and his team entered single-file. Foreman was first, followed by Chase, and then by Cameron.

"It's not morning anymore either." House countered with a usual retort.

"No sooner had I started the MRA, the patient went into cardiac arrest. Myocardial infarction."

"Heart attack? Well, I guess that means you found the clot." House smirked.

"No. Actually we didn't." Chase sighed. Defeated, he sunk into his chair.

"What he means is: No, actually we didn't, except for the one we just created." Cameron interjected. House looked up curiously. "The infarction was caused by heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. We've managed to get him stable again, and started him on Lepirudin to keep any more thromboses from forming."

"Well, now. That is interesting, isn't it." He replied quickly, popping a couple of small pills into his mouth. That, of course, was not an unusual sight, but then Foreman noticed House's jaw move. Instead of swallowing, he was chewing.

"Hang on, that wasn't vicodin…"

"Observant as always, except when it counts." House grinned. "It's hyorogan."

"Military ration pellets?" Chase cocked an eyebrow. "Where'd you get military ration pellets around here?"

"From the ANBU's cloak, where else?"

Cameron snatched the small bag from House.

"You stole these from the patient's clothes?" she huffed.

"Hey, he wasn't using them." House shrugged. "And besides, that's not nearly as interesting as a case of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia occurring just hours after first exposure. I hope it's well documented. Because I'll be submitting that to the Journal of…"

"Yeah, we know that kind of reaction doesn't usually occur until at least five days after starting treatment, and certainly not after initial exposure." Foreman interrupted. "But the systemic reaction was textbook. And even the cardiac arrhythmias he presented with upon entry weren't enough to set it off."

"Which means either you're as wrong about the reaction as you were about the clots, or…"

"Or that wasn't his first exposure to the drug." Chase mumbled.

"Exactly."

"The file from the ER did say he was seen by other doctors, just without results." Chase continued. "He could have been exposed to heparin as early as a week ago. When it didn't produce results, they stopped treatment and probably went elsewhere."

"And reactions can occur in just a day following reexposure." Foreman concluded.

House, meanwhile, reached across the table with his cane.

"Mine." He whacked Cameron's hand with it, and then used the curved end to snatch back the bag of hyorogan. The strike didn't have much force behind it, but it was executed with a quick burst of chakra. And it was more than enough to make Cameron drop the bag.

"But we don't have any of that information." Cameron winced, shaking her hand until the numb, stinging sensation went away. "And we don't have time to keep making other doctor's mistakes… It's half past three."

"Then start by recapping what you do know, and go from there." House got right down to business. "Initial symptoms. Go."

"All right." Chase leaned back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling. "While doing some kind of secret mission, something happened, and now both of his arms are necrotic. Chakra is erratic. And despite it being the most likely cause, the problem isn't in the blood vessels."

"And it isn't limited to just his chakra system either." Cameron added

"Wait, how do you know that?"

"Easy. House pretty much proved that five minutes ago." She gestured to the bag of hyorogan in House's hands.

"Ah… Because there's still hyorogan left." Foreman finished.

"Hyorogan stimulates and stabilizes chakra production. Now, if your chakra suddenly dropped, you were in the middle of a mission, and you had hyorogan with you…"

"You'd take it." Chase finished Cameron's sentence for her. "But, then why didn't he?"

"He did." she added. "But it must not have worked. So he didn't see any point in continuing to take it."

"That means something is acting on his body first, and the chakra system second. What about the other symptoms? According to what his partner said back in the room, he presented with more than just pain. He said his arms felt heavy." Foreman added. "Numbness could indicate nerve damage."

"He also presented with a high fever." Chase added. "Fever could indicate infection." "Report says he's an ANBU who's been traveling extensively for the past few years, which means he could have been exposed to just about anything - germs and toxins. It could be a disease. It could be poison. It could even be cancer."

"Exactly. And you concluded this by the fact that your lab results were, of course, inconclusive? This time, get blood and tissue samples from the outer edges of the necrosis, lest you contaminate everything, and run another full spectrum of tests." House continued, popping one more hyorogan into his mouth. "You know the drill."

They all stood up at once.

"Oh, and on your way back, can one of you fetch me some prune tea?"

Cameron quickly walked out the door with Chase close behind her. Foreman got as far as the door, and then sharply turned around.

"Wait, you want us to get you some what?" He stared back down at House.

House just shrugged his shoulders lethargically.

"Hyorogan always makes me constipated."


	8. A Little Bit Longer

Kabuto kept watch as Orochimaru drifted in and out of a restless sleep. He had done everything he could to make his master more comfortable, but in the end, it was all in vain.

"Can't… can't you give me something else?" Orochimaru pleaded. Sweat beaded on his forehead, sticking to his long black hair.

Unfortunately, while in the care of the special jonin, Kabuto's hands were tied. Anything he could do would only blow their cover.

"The pain has returned, has it not? Is it worse than before?"

"Don't toy with me… I swear, I… I'll kill you. I'll kill them all…"

"Idle threats will get you nowhere. Don't waste your energy." Kabuto took the washcloth, and gently wiped away the sweat. "You're going to need it."

There was a long stretch of silence, which Orochimaru finally broke.

"Kabuto…" he hissed.

"Yes, my lord?"

For a moment, Orochimaru was lost in thought. His body shivered, and Kabuto pulled his blanket a little higher.

"When House's cell was in here… I… I saw something…"

Kabuto leaned in closer.

"What did you see?"

"Someone… someone vaguely familiar… The girl. I've seen her face before. I just can't quite put my finger on where… Depending on her intentions, we might have to…"

Kabuto gulped. He could hear footsteps coming from the other end of the hallway.

"Shh… Don't say any more."

Foreman caught up with Cameron and Chase as they entered the intensive care unit.

"You stopped to ask. You're bringing him the tea." Chase announced immediately, not even turning around.

"Well, you get to collect the samples, because you messed up the first set."

"Preliminary tests showed a slightly elevated white blood cell count and low blood urea nitrogen. That's not completely inconclusive." Chase tried to defend himself. "Low BUN levels can sometimes be associated with liver disease or malnutrition."

"They're also not usually a cause for concern."

"The elevated white blood cell count would point to infection, though." Cameron added. "Even if it's only slightly elevated, it's still possible whatever is attacking his arms is already starting to invade other systems."

They stopped talking when Foreman pushed open the door. Kabuto looked up, quickly meeting all three of them eye to eye.

"Do you know what's wrong with him yet? Why his arms are like this? Why his chakra is so..."

"We're working on a few theories." Foreman added. "But we need to take a few more samples."

Chase nodded, and pulled another stool next to Orochimaru's bedside. He carefully started to unwrap the bandages on his right shoulder. Orochimaru winced. The edges of the wound were always the most painful, and even the slightest brush against them was excruciating. Glancing down at the arm, it was no wonder why. His skin looked like it could literally fall off at any moment.

Kabuto rushed to his side.

"It's all right, partner. It's all right." Kabuto whispered in a soothing voice, hoping above all else, that Orochimaru would continue to hold his tongue. "The doctors need to take another sample. It'll all be over soon. Just continue being strong for a little bit longer."

Chase waited for the man to steady himself while he readied his needle. However, Orochimaru barely had time to hold his breath before Chase started to draw blood. Setting the syringe aside, he also took samples of the surrounding skin. Judging from the patient's reaction, this was actually less painful, probably because some of it had already started to peel away with the bandages. Meanwhile, for good measure, Foreman took a sample of the purulent discharge now oozing from an open wound.

"There. Got it."

Orochimaru let out the breath he'd been holding, and his body trembled under the stress of that one simple act.

"They're finished." The young soldier wiped the tears from his partner's cheek. "I knew you were strong. And soon, you're going to be strong enough to leave this bed, and get right back out on your next mission, I promise."

Kabuto's apparently sincere smile was more than enough to sway Chase and Foreman. They stood up immediately, gathering the samples they had taken.

"We need to get these back to the lab and fast. Running a full battery of tests could take hours. And we don't have many of those left."

"You two go on ahead. Get started." Cameron replied. "I'll clean up his arm and reapply the bandages, then meet you down in the lab."

Foreman and Chase nodded, and in another moment, they were down the hall and around the corner.


	9. Walking into a Trap

Cameron, however, wasn't interested in just bandaging their patient. She wanted more information out of him, and this time, she was sure she would get it. Unlike everyone that came before her, she didn't address Kabuto. Instead, she spoke directly to Orochimaru himself.

"I know you're hiding something." She announced in a quiet whisper.

"I… beg your pardon?" Kabuto squeaked. He clutched Orochimaru's bandaged hand.

"I wasn't sure at first, but when I saw you open your eyes during the procedure, I knew." she carefully wrapped the bandage around his shoulder and her voice dropped to a secretive whisper. "I knew that I know you. Those eyes. Those inhuman, yellow eyes… I've seen them before, and there's only one person in this world that has eyes like yours."

Orochimaru finally opened his eyes, trying to bring her face into focus. His fever, though, was rising, and that made the doctor next to him appear strangely blurry.

"You were once a shinobi of Kohonagakure." She added. "But you defected. And you only defected because the Hokage found out about your secret experiments."

Kabuto's eyes narrowed. He wasn't aware how anyone at this hospital, or even in this village, would know about that. It seemed that Orochimaru's suspicions about the girl were right after all.

"He wasn't the only one who found out. It was common knowledge around the village that you spent your days practicing forbidden jutsu, conducting various experiments on the human body…" She continued. "I saw more than enough failed attempts during my two year residency at the Konoha Ninja Hospital. And it's no stretch of the imagination that you may have been testing them on yourself as well. So it's time to come clean and tell me what really happened to leave you this way."

Orochimaru said nothing. His lips just curled up in a pained smile. Kabuto, however, knew exactly what Orochimaru was thinking, and he was more than happy to translate. He snaked his arm around hers, and in an instant, he was behind her, pushing her forward against the bed.

"What exactly do you want to know, hm?" Kabuto sneered. His pitch was lower, more sinister. The cautious anxiety was gone, and Cameron mentally cursed herself for letting her guard drop. He was clearly more of a threat than she realized, but this wasn't the time to show fear. Shinobi do not fear.

"I need to know what really happened." She spat into the blanket. "What have you been exposing yourself to? What have you really been doing to leave you like this?"

There was still no answer from either of them. She only had one tactic left.

"We have until sundown to figure this out, or they're going to cut off your arms, with or without your consent." She growled. "And House won't be able to stop them!"

Orochimaru gasped. Cameron felt Kabuto's grip loosen, and she took advantage of it, pushing her body up and around into him. Her arm snaked around his, twisting him against the bed instead.

"We can stop them, but only if we can diagnose him in time." She spat in a cold whisper, pushing Kabuto off of her. He rubbed his arm loosely, laughing in a semi-masochistic chuckle. "And we can't do that without your help."

"And you think we can just trust you?" Kabuto sneered.

"The way I see it, you don't really have a choice." Cameron countered bravely.

"No…" Kabuto studied Orochimaru's eyes carefully. The bedridden shinobi had clearly been biding his time, gathering his strength. Kabuto laughed under his breath. He knew his orders, long before his master need speak them. "Doctor, It's you that won't have the choice."

Kabuto moved quickly, taking hold of her arms. But his grip was weak, which meant he never intended to immobilize her, just startle her enough to slow her down for a moment or two. And a moment was all Orochimaru needed. Unable to physically push himself from the bed, he simply stretched his neck forward, lunging at the doctor with his mouth open. Two fangs pierced the side of her neck before she ever saw the attack coming.

Her hand flew to her neck the instant Kabuto let her go.

"… what?" she stammered.

Orochimaru's head fell back against the pillow in an exhausted slump and he just laughed.

"Doctor… if you must know…" he hissed. "I obtained this injury while I was killing the third Hokage."

"Th… the third Hokage?" Cameron gasped. Suddenly, the blood on her neck wasn't that interesting.

"He tried to use the dead demon consuming seal, but he died before he was able to complete it."

"Dead demon consuming seal? But that technique is supposed to…"

"The technique… was meant to take my life, yes. Perceptive, little doctor." Orochimaru sneered. "But since he was… unable to finish it before he died, it only took my arms."

Cameron trembled. Hearing Orochimaru speak so frankly about the murder he committed was frightening. The hoarseness of his voice, punctuated with exhausted, agonizing breaths, only made it more intense. She struggled to bring her mind back to the case at hand, back to the well-being of her patient. After all, if she didn't, her patient probably wouldn't have second thoughts about killing her as well.

"No… I mean… the technique shouldn't do this… Special jonin House… we should have found a clot…" she tripped over her words, subconsciously rubbing her wounded neck. "Are there any pre-existing conditions that might alter the effects of…"

"I selected this body because the subject was in impeccable health!" Orochimaru hissed in an angry whisper. His eyes burned through Cameron as she struggled yet again to make sense of it all. " And it is far too soon for it to fail me now! The transformation… the transformation was flawless."

"The body you selected… you mean… this body isn't even yours?" Cameron blinked. She didn't know of a single jutsu that could create such a parasitic state. And even if there was one, it couldn't work indefinitely. The host's immune system would react almost immediately, producing system wide organ failure. He'd be dead, most likely within hours of even attempting it.

"Foolish girl." He hissed painfully. "You know nothing of what it means to be a true immortal."

Cameron suddenly knew exactly what was wrong. She took a couple of steps back.

"I've got to tell the others…"

"Kabuto…"

Kabuto nodded. Cameron spun around, but didn't have any time to react. In his master's place, he made the hand signs corresponding to his juinjutsu. A circular pattern of three black teardrops appeared on her neck, just behind the bite.

Her body shook with pain and she fell to the floor. Kabuto grabbed her, silencing her scream with his hand. He held her until the convulsions stopped and her body fell slack. Without much care or apprehension, he checked her pulse.

"She is a strong one, my lord." Kabuto smiled. "She's still alive."

Cameron's eyes opened weakly. A few moments passed before she remembered where she was and whose cold, calculating eyes she was looking up into. Her hand immediately flew to her neck. The wounds had disappeared, and the curse seal, for now at least, was quiet.

"What…"

"Dr. Cameron, are you all right?" Kabuto's voice was nervous and high-pitched again. "You… you finished bandaging my partner's arms and then you just fainted! Would you like me to get you some water? Do… do you need to lie down?"

She shook her head slowly, almost experimentally. She felt strange, but wasn't sure why. Piece by piece, thoughts and memories started to return – including everything that Orochimaru and Kabuto admitted to her. That realization hitting her, she stood up with a gasp.

"I have to tell the others!"

Kabuto simply watched her flee, now twice as fast as a normal shinobi. He turned back to his master, who was obviously exhausted from the ordeal. Beads of sweat rolled across his face and Kabuto gently wiped them away.

"Do not worry, my lord. If she attempts to betray us now…" he added. "She will suffer the consequences."


	10. Burst of Insight

The laboratory was unusually quiet as Foreman and Chase waited on the results of their latest tests. They'd sent one sample off for a frozen section tissue biopsy, hoping it would buy them a little more time to examine the others.

"Low iron, low blood calcium... Foreman, you're not going to believe this." Chase sighed, falling back in his chair.

"What'd we miss?"

"Actually, we didn't miss anything." Chase handed him the paper.

"Leukocytosis. White blood cell count is slightly elevated, just like the first time." Foreman read quietly. "I guess House was wrong about you making a mistake."

"No, I was just wrong about what mistake you made."

The door to the lab swung open, and House limped inside. He held the film from the MRA against the light, studying it again.

"The answer was thromboembolism all along."

Chase stood up, snatching the film from House's hands.

"We've looked a thousand times, there is no clot."

"Did I raise you to only think inside the box?" House struck Chase on the side of the thigh with his cane. The reaction was instantaneous. His face soured, as if his stomach had just dropped into his knees. Pain spread up the leg, and Chase had to brace himself against the lab table to keep from falling to the ground.

Foreman paused.

On one hand, that strike could have been a vital clue. House could have been hinting that the numbness was the result of thromboses blocking the tiny vessels that fed the nerves. It would have been undetectable in their test. On the other hand, he may have just done it for fun.

"What… what was that for?" Chase finally exclaimed. House answered with only a smile.

Unfortunately for Foreman, the grin usually meant it was the latter.

"You don't see anything unusual?"

Foreman held it to the light and studied it again.

"No. I don't, House. The blood vessels are fine."

"Do I need to hit you too?" House groaned.

"I don't see a clot!" Foreman repeated. "I don't see one because there isn't one! And if there isn't a clot, it means the answer isn't thromboembolism!"

"Exactly!" House interrupted. "The answer isn't thromboembolism!"

"I thought you just said that it was!" Chase shouted back, rubbing his sore leg.

"It was!" House returned, even louder. "But not anymore. Until now, we've been assuming his first exposure to heparin was a mistake. That's where we made a mistake. Now, assume that it wasn't, and that he was treated for the thromboembolism, successfully, I might add, before he was ever brought here."

"That would mean there's another underlying condition, maybe an infection of some kind, that everyone missed."

"House, the blood work doesn't fit." Chase protested. "And I didn't make a mistake, it's the same as before. Neutrophilia isn't high enough to indicate a bacterial infection. And Lymphocytes are far too low to indicate a viral one."

House shuffled closer, and took the report from Chase. He bit his lip as he studied the numbers. Foreman, meanwhile, had turned his full attention to the MRA film.

"Neutrophils should have increased following the heart attack caused by the heparin…" he whispered. "That's unusual..."

"House, there's gas in subcutaneous fascial planes..."

The three shinobi exchanged glances.

"Necrotizing fasciitis." Chase answered after an uneasy pause.

"Could be the result of an underlying clostridial infection." Foreman added.

"Maybe, maybe not." House replied. "Could be any number of different bacteria. Analysis of the discharge from the patient's wounds will narrow down source of the infection. In the meantime, treat for everything. Looks like he's imm…"

"He's immunocompromised!"

Dr. Cameron skidded to a stop, just inches away from the table. The chakra in her feet burst like a shock wave, sending her hair flying and her lab coat billowing. The papers sitting on the table met a similar fate, as Foreman tried his best to catch them and shove them back in their proper order.

House, meanwhile, was far more interested in Cameron.

Her appearance was oddly disheveled. Her breath came in sudden, ragged gasps. Sweat clung to her skin in such a way that her breasts could almost be seen through her shirt. But for once, that wasn't what he was looking at. A mad sprint from the intensive care wing to the labs shouldn't have been taxing enough to literally take her breath away. House knew that. She must have been moving faster than even her own chakra would allow. And yet, he could sense it still radiating wildly throughout her body in a manner he hadn't heard of since... House gasped.

"How do you know he's immunocompromised?" he immediately asked. His voice was stern, almost shrewd.

"Because his body…" Cameron started to explain, but suddenly stopped. She fell to her knees, clutching her neck and her sentence ended in a fierce scream.


	11. Curse Mark

"What the hell?" Chase mumbled as he watched Cameron collapse under her own weight. He and Foreman jumped over their chairs, darting past House in a vain attempt to catch her.

"Her chakra is going wild!" Foreman shouted. He struggled to hold his fingers on the other side of her neck long enough to find a pulse. "She's tachycardic."

"Cameron, what happened?"

She tried to answer, but found that her lips wouldn't move. Her reaction was limited to a painful series of whines and moans as she tried to force herself to breathe.

"She's hyperventilating."

"She's starting to seize!" Foreman held her tightly as convulsions rolled through her body, following the erratic bursts of chakra. "House, don't just stand there!"

There was an uneasy moment of silence.

"Foreman, set her down. Chase. Get back." He replied calmly. "She's fine."

"You call that fine?" Foreman protested. Both he and Chase refused to move.

"I said move!" House slammed his cane on the metal table. The echo was as jarring as Cameron's chakra, and it was more than enough to shake the two doctors off their guard. House awkwardly lowered himself to the ground, pushing his useless leg over in order to make room.

"Give her to me." House ordered.

This time, his order went unquestioned.

Though the seizure was beginning to subside, Cameron's body was still curled in on itself. Her back was hunched painfully forward, her neck bent to one side, as though to keep pressure on an open wound. Foreman and Chase carefully passed her to House, who wasted no time situating her in his lap.

He pulled back the lapel of her coat, and found exactly what he was looking for.

"Cameron, listen to me. You have to relax. Clear your mind. Don't think about the patient anymore. Don't think about anything." He instructed calmly, slowly and clearly. "You can make the pain stop just as easily as it started."

Chase and Foreman leaned forward, trying to get a better look at what House had found – three small tear-shaped marks on her neck. Neither of the younger doctors had ever seen anything like them before.

"What… what is that?"

"It's a curse mark, a type of juinjutsu. Like a tumor feeds on blood, this feeds on chakra." House glanced up at Chase. "It must have activated when she used her chakra to run here as fast as she did."

They glanced back down at Cameron. The shaking had stopped.

"Cameron. I just want you to breathe right now. If you don't tap into it, the mark will recede." He continued to hold her, rhythmically counting her breaths aloud. Slowly, she was able to get the pain in check and bring herself back. Her heartbeat slowed, and the rest of her vitals stabilized.

"A curse mark…" Chase just stared.

"But where did it come from?" Foreman asked. "How'd she get it?"

"The exact workings of most juinjutsu are carefully guarded secrets." House studied the seal carefully. "But I have a few ideas. And I know of a few ways to keep it at bay."

Cameron slowly opened her eyes. Her head was spinning. She wanted to get up, but House's gentle grip was all it took to hold her down.

"Unfortunately, we don't have time for any of them right now. A sealing jutsu can take hours, hours that our patient doesn't have. Cameron, you're just going to have to be strong a little longer." House then looked up at Foreman and Chase. "Did you do a gram straining of the exudates around the wound?"

Foreman nodded.

"It's a mixture of gram-negative and gram-positive organisms."

"Life is never easy. Of course it is. I'll go start him on broad-spectrum antibiotics." House replied. His voice was soft, but serious. "In the meantime, I want you both to take Cameron to my office. She'll be safer there. Leaving her down here is too dangerous. If her chakra activates again before the curse is sealed, there's no telling what damage will come out of it."

Foreman bent down, lifting his comrade out of House's lap. Completely exhausted from the initial effect of the curse mark, all Cameron could do was fall limp in his arms.

"Take the stairs so you won't be seen. You know Cuddy would have a field day with this one." House added. Bracing himself on his cane and the table, he managed to awkwardly stand up again.

"You know if we're right, we'll have to go against the patients wishes." Chase added. "We have to remove the dead tissue immediately. Who's the surgical consult?"

"I am, now." He replied, already limping out of the room. "Consider me consulted."


	12. Hiding Something

Foreman carried Cameron up the stairs to House's office. Chase, meanwhile, watched his back. House wanted the entire incident to be kept secret, and they could easily understand why. A curse mark was like an aneurysm. It was a ticking time bomb, and when it went off again, the effects could be deadly – for her, for her job, even for the hospital's reputation.

By the time he laid her on the couch, she was already starting to come to.

"What… Where?"

"You're in House's office." Foreman whispered. He and Chase both bent down next to her.

"You have a curse mark. House didn't have time to seal it yet. He had to go check on the patient."

Cameron's eyes widened. Her hand trembled as it clutched her neck. The mark burned, and she could feel it throbbing against her skin.

"But you're going to be okay. I promise." Foreman clarified. "House knows exactly what to do."

"No…. The patient…" she stuttered, suddenly fighting to catch her breath again. "House... The patient is…"

The pain was coming back, and in a desperate attempt to stop it, she reached out and squeezed Chase's arm. No matter what she did, though, it wasn't enough. Their faces turned to a searing white light, and all Cameron could do was scream.

"Not again…" Foreman gasped as she started to seize again. The pain looked like it was worse than before. Cameron wasn't just shaking. This time, she was crying. And all he could do was hold her down and hope it passed quickly.

"Cameron, listen to us!" Chase winced. She was squeezing so hard, and with so much energy, that his hand was starting to go numb. "You have to relax. You have to breathe. Just like you did before."

"This will pass. But you have to help it pass!"

"Clear your mind!"

"The… the… patient…" she squeaked, but her breath hitched. She couldn't say anything else.

"Don't think about the patient anymore!" Chase shouted. "House is thinking about the patient for you!"

Little did they know, that was all part of the problem.

"Cameron, it'll be all right. You just have to relax!"

"You can do it."

"Just breathe…" Foreman started counting a pattern, just as House did. "Release your chakra and breathe."

The door swung open.

"House, I just got a report of a epidemic breaking out in Tanzaku Town. There was an attack by a giant serpent less than a week ago, and dozens of people have fallen ill. They suspect it's the effects of a lingering poison, so I'm assigning you and your team to…"

Cameron screamed and Dr. Lisa Cuddy suddenly froze. She wasn't talking to House. In fact, House wasn't even in the room. Instead, she found herself face to face with something completely unexpected.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Chase and Foreman nervously looked up. She knew in an instant their anxiety was mixed. On the one hand, they were hiding something, most likely on House's orders, and it was obvious why. But their overwhelming concern for Cameron was genuine, and in situations like this, nothing else mattered.

She dropped her clipboard and knelt down beside Foreman. Cameron's chakra was out of control, and each attempt to control it only resulted in more pain. She was in tears. Her body was convulsing.

The chakra around Cuddy's hands glowed a bright green as she tried to assess the situation.

"What happened to her? How long has she been like this?"

They both sighed before answering.

"This is the second time it's happened." Chase explained. "House was able to calm her down the first time."

"She has a curse mark." Foreman added, as he tugged the collar on Cameron's coat.

"A… a curse mark?" Cuddy shouted. "But from where? How'd she get it?"

Neither of the doctors knew the answer to that, so they stayed silent. Cameron, however, couldn't. With each twitch she made, the mark lit up. She screamed, and it started to spread.

"Never mind that now. Foreman, get me 10 mg diazepam, prepped for intramuscular injection. Chase, get me a dozen kunai."

They hesitated for half a second, and she barked louder.

"Go! Now!"

As a jonin with decades of medical training, Cuddy wasn't naive. While rare to witness, Juinjutsu wasn't something to take lightly. In all her years of practice, she had seen maybe four cases involving curse marks, none of which survived for long. Because the mark forcibly draws chakra from its recipient, the stress to almost all bodily systems is overwhelming. At stage one, a curse mark carries a ninety percent fatality rate. For the ten percent that are lucky enough to survive, many will still die once the mark reaches stage two. Beyond that… Cuddy didn't even want to think about it.

Instead, she just bit her lip. If Chase and Foreman didn't hurry back, there was a strong possibility that Cameron wasn't going to make it through the night


	13. Diagnosis

Meanwhile, Kabuto kept an uneasy vigil over Orochimaru. His master was stable for now and seemed to be resting peacefully for the first time in days, but time wasn't on their side.

More than half an hour had passed since Dr. Cameron left. With everything that she now knew, not to mention the burst of speed her enhanced chakra gave her, she should have been back by now. But besides the occasional orderly, the hallway was silent, and that unnerved him far more than he wanted to admit.

Something must have gone wrong.

Kabuto cursed himself as he cataloged each potential mistake. Had the seal been too weak? Had Dr. Cameron been able to resist its influence and say too much? Was the delay a sign that she had betrayed them? Or, conversely, had the seal been too strong? She may have left the room under her own power, but when the curse mark activated, was she too weak to withstand the chakra drain? Had she collapsed somewhere? And if so, was it before or after she reached her teammates?

Kabuto, though, was shaken from all of those thoughts when House casually limped through the doorway.

"Are you Dr. House?" he asked timidly, even though he already knew the answer. If the cursed leg didn't give him away, the intense aura and oddly unkempt appearance would. But he played his part and asked anyway.

House, though, didn't reply. He simply reached for the chart, and started to flip through it. A long minute passed, followed by another. House nodded occasionally to himself, eventually limping around the side of the bed. He set the chart down on the bedside table, and hung a new IV.

"You are not a lucky man." House mumbled to the patient as he walked past Kabuto again.

"You know what's wrong with him?"

House stopped, and turned back around.

"Unfortunately, I think so." He whispered. "Hey, could you hand me that clipboard?"

Kabuto nodded, passing the folder back to House. But instead of taking it, House just lifted his cane, striking up across the back of both of the soldier's arms. The blow was so intense that his hands went completely numb and the papers scattered across the floor.

"Sorry, what I lost in maneuverability, I make up for with surprises." House grinned.

He reached out with the crook of his cane and pulled the stool closer.

"That's for putting a juinjutsu on my subordinate." He added as he sat down. "Don't worry. The numbness will wear off, long after we're finished with our little chat. It's not that I don't trust you…"

He paused for a moment. Kabuto tried to look surprised, but House saw through the lie easily.

"Actually, it is that I don't trust you."

Kabuto narrowed his eyes. There was no use in playing dumb anymore.

"What do you know?"

"I know that it's no coincidence my comrade's curse mark flared up at the mere mention of her patient." House tapped his cane on the side of Orochimaru's bed, successfully jarring him awake. "Which means she knows something that you don't want anyone else to know, and you're willing to risk her life to keep it that way."

Orochimaru hissed under his breath, and House stared into his yellow eyes.

"I know you're not ANBU. The erythema might obscure tattoos, but it doesn't erase them completely. If I cross-reference the various places Dr. Cameron's been with the unusual mark on your left wrist, I'm willing to bet that I'll to come to some rather interesting conclusions." he continued. "After all, anyone who's willing to fabricate this much of a lie just to see me must either have a lot to lose or a lot to hide."

"Maybe so." Kabuto replied coldly. He glanced down to House's leg. "But then again, your reputation does precede you, in more ways than one. It was imperative that we sought out the only shinobi to find himself ensnared in the dead demon consuming seal and live to tell the tale."

"The dead demon consuming seal devours the soul, but at the expense of the heart. The demon's hands enter the chest, and the kinjutsu effectively shuts down the circulatory system, and with it, the chakra system, in order to sever the soul from the body." House explained as he pulled a kunai from inside his vest. "For those who survive, the result should be observed as thromboembolism. If it goes undetected, the damage can spread through the entire limb, the tissue fed by the blood vessels dying a slow and painful death."

He twirled the kunai as he glanced down at his own leg.

"Myonecrosis. Not a pretty sight. The diagnosis fits. My team should have been right. But you're just full of surprises."

Orochimaru glared at House, but the jonin didn't even flinch.

"First surprise – This," he gestured over a bandaged arm, "isn't from the dead demon consuming seal."

Orochimaru's face would have blanched if it only had enough color. His eyes bulged with fear and his body trembled with rage.

"That's… that's impossible!" he panicked. "I was cursed! I know I was cursed! I saw the shinigami with my own eyes as he severed my arms from my body!"

House, meanwhile, ignored the minor tantrum. He slit the bandages off Orochimaru's right arm, and drove the point of the kunai into his rotting hand. Orochimaru screamed, and Kabuto jumped forward.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Calm down." House thrust with his cane, holding Kabuto at bay. He turned back to Orochimaru. "Did you feel that?"

"Yes! You fucking excuse for a…"

"No anesthesia means that the nerves and blood vessels are still partially functional. That's a good sign. And underneath the damaged layers, there's still some healthy muscle too. Another good sign." House explained. "What's killing your arms isn't the curse. You were cured from the actual curse a long time ago. Whoever treated you first, the one who gave you that initial dose of heparin, saved your life. You should be thanking them."

Orochimaru's anger subsided as he struggled to comprehend what House was saying.

"The curse, though, also left you a little going-away present – necrotizing fasciitis. When you were obviously fighting over your soul, your body's main defenses were being breached. Think of it like having a large, dirty open wound in your chest, a ripe breeding ground for all sorts of disease. Fortunately, most of these infections wouldn't have even taken hold in a healthy person. But for someone with a damaged immune system, they can multiply rapidly, eat away at healthy tissue and produce a state of system-wide toxicity."

Kabuto simply stood in shock. He had been so focused on trying to cure the curse itself; something like this had never even crossed his mind. He looked back up at House, and realized the other man was staring right through him. When he saw his own calculating aura reflected back in House's cocky glare, he knew his false naivety had been completely unraveled.

"By your deadpan stare, I assume you're familiar with the treatment for necrotizing fasciitis." House already knew the answer, but he asked anyway. It was the patient, of course, that had no idea.

Orochimaru's eyes darted nervously between House and Kabuto. One remained stoic. The other simply bowed his head.

"Massive doses of antibiotics. Eftriaxone, penicillin, clindamycin…" Kabuto finally answered.

"Followed by aggressive surgical debridement." House then added for him. "Depending on what can be salvaged, the affected limb may or may not need to be amputated."

Kabuto bowed his head in acknowledgment and defeat.

"I knew you weren't as dumb as you look." House added as he stood up, disconnecting one of the other IVs. Orochimaru glared at him with a terrified rage, but Kabuto simply let him go. "Talk it over. Decide what you want to do. My team will be back in ten minutes to prep you for surgery regardless of your decision."


	14. Let it Linger

House limped out of the room, leaving the silence behind him to linger. Orochimaru seethed, and Kabuto knew he could say nothing to placate his master's anger. Anger then turned to panic.

"My… my arms…" he trembled, struggling in vain to lift them off the pillows. One bandage was still undone. His right hand hadn't stopped bleeding. It was rotting, and the smell was clinging to everything. "All… all of my jutsu… all of it… everything… gone!"

Orochimaru rolled his eyes toward the ceiling a few small tears slit apart his jaw.

"I… I am immortal… I am… I am the ultimate being… and… and you!" he stared at Kabuto, baring his fanglike teeth.

The servant winced at the sound of his name. Right now, Orochimaru was more monster than man, his yellow eyes feral and unforgiving. In this state of mind, there was no difference between friend and foe. No life was sacred. Over the years, Kabuto watched countless men die for far less an offense than this. And while his master was weak and bedridden, he was still a very dangerous man.

"Kabuto…"

He swallowed nervously and tried to speak. Silence, after all, was insolence. But his heart beat so hard against his chest and pounded so loudly inside his head, it more than drowned out any response he could make.

"Yes, my lord?" he feigned bravery and approached the bed.

"Wrap that up. I'm sick of looking at it."

Kabuto sighed inwardly.

"Of course."

Kabuto was a surgeon by trade. No matter how nervous he may have been, his hands were always steady. He carefully removed the damaged, bloody gauze, and as gently as he could manage, he cleaned the wounds and started applying new bandages. The tension, however, like the lingering smell of rotting flesh, still clung to the room.

"Kabuto… Is the jonin right?" Orochimaru whispered. His voice was unusually timid, almost hoarse.

"Yes." Kabuto answered, knowing that hesitation was only making the situation worse. He blamed himself for letting it go this long, but there was little else he could do.

"And my arms?" he balked. "Will they be…"

"I am afraid that really does depend on how much remains after the operation." Kabuto replied softly. "How far the damage has spread. As Special Jonin House demonstrated, your nerves and muscles are still somewhat healthy. Which means you stand the chance of regaining at least some use of your arms. Should the infection clear, you should regain chakra flow."

"And you? You knew of the treatment, but chose to do nothing?"

"Knowing the treatment without knowing the diagnosis is no better than launching a full scale war without ever knowing the enemy. Until just now, I believed, as you did, that you were still suffering the effects of the Third's curse. We were both operating under the assumption that my cure had been ineffective." Kabuto replied as he tied the bandage off at the wrist.

Unfortunately, that was not the answer Orochimaru was looking for.

"Then give me one good reason…" his glare turned immediately malicious. "…why I should continue to let you live."

Orochimaru's lips curled in disgust. His body arched as he retched, physically forcing the kusinagi blade up his throat. Without chakra, and even without arms, he could still wield this unique weapon with frightening precision. He merely tilted his head, and the blade of the sword fell in line with the base of Kabuto's neck. The snake was preparing to strike.

Kabuto, however, refused to show any fear.

"The long surgery will leave you weak and incredibly vulnerable. You will need my protection. Furthermore, my unique regenerative abilities would make me a prime candidate to harvest skin for future grafts after the operation is..."

"Heh. A doctor willing to slice his own skin off for his patient – that's a quality that's increasingly difficult to find." Orochimaru cackled, choking on the blade as it slid back down his throat. "Ah… Kabuto… That's why I like you."


	15. Cuddy's Seal

Like House, Dr. Cuddy was a jonin of tremendous skill and ability. Like House, she had trained under some of the best doctors in Hoshigakure. And like House, circumstances beyond her control brought her to Yugakure. That, however, was where the similarities stopped.

Where he was crass and domineering, she was kind, yet cunning. His job, so it often seemed, was to make trouble. Her job, in addition to running the village's medical facility, was to clean up his messes. To date, this was certainly his biggest mess. Cuddy was used to working with lives on the line, but not when that life was one of the facility's own. Dr. Cameron was a friend and comrade. She was a valued member of House's team, and that alone proved her worth as a medical shinobi.

Cuddy took a deep breath and forced herself to put all of that aside.

Ritual lines had been carved along House's carpet, and various kunai stood at critical points. In the center, she held Cameron's limp, naked body. With her own blood, she'd drawn the seal around the curse mark, and bloody writing extended down her body and onto the floor below.

Foreman and Chase had made certain Cameron was heavily sedated for the procedure. Now, they respectfully stood outside House's office, preserving the dignity of their comrade in what would probably be her weakest hour.

Cuddy began the hand signs. Despite the sedation, Cameron trembled. Then she screamed. The thick glass muffled some of the noise, but the other doctors still winced at the sound.

They winced again when they saw who was limping their way.

"I assume there's a reason why all the curtains are pulled and you're just standing here like genin on guard duty."

Foreman opened his mouth to respond, but Cameron beat him to it. The scream was immediately followed by Dr. Cuddy's stern reassurance that she was doing fine, that it would all be over soon.

"She's doing the evil sealing method." House mumbled, and then turned to his remaining cell. "I thought I told you not to go to Cuddy!"

"House, we didn't." Foreman interrupted. "She came in while we were with Cameron."

"She was expecting to find you in the office and us with the patient, not the other way around."

House grumbled under his breath. He took a step toward the door, but Foreman stopped him.

"I'm afraid you can't go in until she's done."

"In case you haven't noticed, the name on the door says Dr. Gregory House. That means I can go in whenever I want."

"House, she's…"

"Naked? God I hope so. Or else Cuddy needs to go back to the Academy."

"Wait, you know what's involved in the procedure?"

"Of course. That's why I wanted to do it." House managed a one-sided grin. "Now, if you'll kindly step out of the way, I believe my subordinate's breasts need me."

"House…" Chase stepped in front of him again. "This really isn't the time to be making jokes."

"Who was joking?" House leaned on his cane. "Besides, I need the two of you to go prep our patient for surgical debridement. Operating room five is open for the rest of the night."

Neither of them moved. House glanced at the door in mild annoyance, and then turned his head sharply to the right. "Look! Shadow Clones!"

"House, we're not falling for something like that." Chase sighed, just before a second cane struck him from the side. He never even saw it coming. One doctor slammed into the other, and they both fell over in a painful domino effect.

"Maybe you should. Now, go prep the patient. I'll meet you in the OR." He grinned, and pushed on the handle. The door opened, but the screaming had long stopped. "Damn. Missed the best part."


	16. The Secret is Out

Cuddy looked up, but she wasn't surprised. From her facial expression, it was clear that she left Chase and Foreman outside, not as guards, but merely as a distraction. She knew House would get in. It was only a matter of time. Fortunately, they bought her just enough time to finish the procedure, and slide Cameron back into her clothes.

House said nothing to Cuddy as he awkwardly sat on the floor next to her. His hand brushed against Cameron's neck, checking her pulse before examining the seal around the curse mark. Cameron flinched a little at House's touch, the sedation beginning to wear off.

"That seal will hold..." He mumbled.

"Of course it will, House."

"I wasn't finished." He rolled his head toward Cuddy. "What I was trying to say, is that seal will hold… for now. The evil sealing method is only as strong as the person it's used on. It's only a matter of time until, with the best of intentions, she taps into the mark to increase her chakra. When that happens, the seal will break instantly."

"House, you don't know that."

"Cameron loves to push herself. She's a part of my cell, after all." House bragged. " I think she gets it from me."

Cuddy rolled her eyes.

"Regardless, it's something she'll need to be constantly mindful of."

Cuddy's sour expression softened when House turned away. His face betrayed his attitude. He was just as concerned as she was.

"She'll be all right, House." Cuddy finally whispered.

In her lap, Cameron let out a weak groan. She was exhausted, and rightfully so, but her eyes still fluttered in an attempt to wake up. A few minutes passed, and slowly, she managed the difficult task of keeping them open long enough for the jonins' faces to come into focus.

"Cuddy…?" she whispered.

"It's all right. Just take it easy." Cuddy replied with a warm smile. "I sealed the curse mark."

Cameron nodded slightly, and then slowly turned her head toward House. She smiled with relief.

"You're all right…"

"Of course." he replied sharply. "I'm certainly not dumb enough to stand still while some wolf in ANBU's clothing puts a juinjutsu on me."

"What?" Cuddy's eyes shot up at House with a glare that could kill. "You know what happened? Who did this to her?"

House said nothing. In her sudden anger, Cuddy failed to notice the real meat of House's statement – that the ANBU soldiers they had been treating were, in fact, not ANBU at all. Their disguise was skin deep, with the frightening possibility that there was something far more purulent underneath.

The remark, however, wasn't lost on Cameron. Her lips quivered as her memories started flooding back - One minute she was talking to the patient. The next, she was rushing to the lab to tell the others something very important.

"The patient…" she trembled as she spoke. Even though the mark was sealed, she flinched at the anticipation of pain. This time, however, it didn't come. "House… the patient is immunocompoimised…"

"We know." House answered back. "White blood cell count verified your assumption, and your assumption fits nicely with the diagnosis. Foreman and Chase would agree with you, if they weren't busy prepping the patient for surgery right now."

Cameron almost shot out of Cuddy's lap.

"No… House… You can't! If you go to amputate... House, they're in danger..."

"Calm down." House pushed a hand against her shoulder. "We're not going to amputate. At least, not yet. But until the necrotic tissue is removed, we can't get the infection under control."

"Cameron, what do you mean they're in danger?" Cuddy interrupted.

"House, the patient… We have to be very careful…" Cameron trembled again. This time, it wasn't about pain and everyone knew it. "The patient is…"

"What about the patient?" Cuddy asked again, taking hold of Cameron's arms in a stern, protective grip. Cameron, in return, merely gulped.

"We… We're treating Orochimaru…"

Orochimaru.

The word alone was often enough to strike fear in the heart of most shinobi, and for good reason. The powerful ninja's reputation preceded him, first, as one of the three legendary sanin of Konohagakure, and later as one of its most wanted S-rank criminals. There were countless rumors about his involvement with the Akatsuki, about the cruel experiments he conducted on both the living and the dead in an attempt to further his own power and about the superhuman abilities he acquired through them.

Cameron nervously glanced up at House, and then at Cuddy. The former shrugged nonchalantly; the latter visibly panicked.

"Are you absolutely sure?" she managed to gather her wits enough to ask.

Cameron nodded quietly.

Cuddy didn't believe her, but only because she didn't want to believe her.

"I've seen him… I know him." she whispered. There was a grave seriousness in her voice that couldn't be so easily refuted. "If you catch a glimpse of his eyes, even once, you carry that impression with you to your grave."

Cuddy looked back at House. Her terrified expression didn't demand a confirmation as much as it dared him to challenge it. Unfortunately for the jonin, House could read it all too well.

"You want me to tell you that she out of her mind."

"House, I want you to tell me the truth." Cuddy insisted, even as her voice cracked. "If she's right, then there's a hospital full of unsuspecting people whose lives are in grave danger."

"That and a very unfortunate hospital administrator faced with unbridled panic, mass hysteria and general chaos." House added. "Which is precisely why you want me to tell you that my subordinate out of her mind."

"House…"

"Unfortunately, I've had my suspicions for quite some time now."

Cuddy slowly rose to her feet, composed herself with a long, deep breath, and then turned sharply on her heels.

"Wait, where are you going?" Cameron shouted.

"I have to stop that surgery." She answered anxiously, marching out the door without another look back. House, meanwhile, struggled to get off the floor.

"What are you…"

"Isn't it obvious?" House planted his cane on the floor and thrust himself up. "I have to stop Cuddy from stopping that surgery!"


	17. Confrontation

A kunai whizzed past jonin Cuddy. On any other day and in any other mindset, she would have simply dodged it. But this time, it caught her completely by surprise. She jumped, stumbling backwards into an orderly and his cart.

"A thousand pardons, jonin." The young boy bowed and hurried away.

Cuddy shook off her embarrassment and then pulled the knife out of the wall. She turned around, staring angrily back at House as he limped quickly down the hall.

"All the times you could joke around and you choose right now?" Cuddy growled, shoving the kunai back into his open hand.

"Who said I was joking around?" He replied, twirling it on his finger as he walked next to her. "You can't stop the surgery."

Cuddy stumbled again, this time, without additional help from House or his fast-flying weaponry.

"Oh yes, I can." She insisted.

"No. You can't." he immediately replied. "The patient's condition is critical. If we don't remove the dead tissue, the infection is going to spread, killing what's left of his arms and secreting toxins that will lead to multi-organ failure within the next couple of days."

"House," her voice shrank to a whisper. She pulled him into a vacant hallway before continuing. "Your patient is Orochimaru."

House, though, refused to whisper. He leaned over her, driving the tip of his cane into the tile below. Hot breath stuck to her cheek as he emphasized each word in his usual, crass tone.

"My patient." He sneered. "Is dying."

Cuddy shivered but refused to back down. It was less than twelve hours ago when she first received news from Sunagakure. The Kazekage was dead. His body was found in the desert just east of the village. News from Kohonagakure arrived soon after. They had been invaded, and although the attempt was unsuccessful, the Hokage had perished in the battle. The leader of the attack, the person responsible for of both murders, was none other than man they were now treating.

"Your patient." She replied, repeating each word with equal vitriol. "Deserves to die."

"That's not up to you."

"House, let me make one thing clear." She whispered harshly. "This is my hospital. I am responsible for the safety of all of the shinobi who serve under me. In the last few weeks alone, countless civilians, hundreds of honorable ninja, and two great shinobi leaders have died at his hands. There are ANBU units from at least eight different villages with orders to assassinate him on sight. And the moment I inform the head surgeon who he's operating on, I assure you he'll be eager to do the same."

Cuddy stared back at House, but he still didn't move.

"You already informed him." House replied with a shrug of his shoulders. He pulled a vicodin bottle out of his vest, and popped a couple pills into his mouth. "I suppose you could say he respectfully declines."

"You appointed yourself as surgical consult?" Cuddy balked. Her frenzied voice finally lost its forced silence, and she resorted to pacing across the hallway to calm back down. "Do you have any idea what you're about to do? No. That's ridiculous! Of course you do. If you didn't, you would have appointed another… House, you are putting yourself, your team, and everyone in this hospital in harm's way and for what?"

He ignored her outburst and turned around, limping toward the operating rooms. This time, it was her turn to catch up.

"House."

He kept walking. A half-hearted sigh was his only reply.

"Special jonin House, I order you to answer me!"

Cuddy grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around. To her surprise, he turned around with it. He snaked his arm around hers until his hand was pressed against her shoulder. In this position, a mere flick of the wrist was all the strength it took to knock her off balance. One swift move of his cane could take her legs out, and send her crashing into the tile. But for now, he simply held her there.

"You want an answer, I'll give you an answer." He growled. "Have you ever experienced the dead demon consuming seal?"

"The what? Are you out of your mind?" Cuddy tried to reverse his grip, to bend him over in a hammer lock, but couldn't break free. "House, no one survives that kind of kinjutsu. It kills both the ninja that uses it and the one they use it on!"

"And if it doesn't? What happens then?"

When she couldn't immediately answer, House answered for her.

"Pain. Pain on a level that you can't comprehend." He released her, letting her fall back on her own feet. "They suffer in agony. My patient is in agony. I'm still in agony."

House started walking again. This time, Cuddy didn't follow. He paused for a brief moment, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"And by the time this is all over, at least one of us won't be in pain anymore."


	18. Going Under

Kabuto watched Chase and Foreman trudge through the door. The sun was setting, but tension was still running high. They gave only a slight nod as they studied the notes House had made in the patient's chart, and Kabuto used the silence to study them. While it was impossible to know for sure exactly what special jonin House or that girl may have told them, the fact that they could approach their work with an honestly stoic demeanor most likely meant their cover had not been fully blown.

Kabuto sighed under his breath. He was thankful for that, and he slipped back into character.

"Dr. House said he… he would be going into surgery?" Kabuto asked meekly.

At first, neither wanted to answer. They were still surprised that the pair had even agreed to surgical debridement. Special Jonin House, however, had a special skill of phrasing things in such a way that 'Yes' was the only available option.

Chase eventually looked at Foreman, making him the inevitable bearer of bad news.

"Yes." He answered plainly. "In order to get the infection under control and prevent further damage to your partner's arms, we need to remove the necrotic tissue."

Chase glanced down at the ailing shinobi. His eyes were closed, but he was in too much pain to be sleeping.

"And that will heal him? Cure him?"

Again, there was a silent pause.

"I won't lie to you." Foreman whispered. "We won't know the extent of the damage until we're in the operating room. This procedure isn't simple and it still carries a lot of risks, especially for someone in his condition – additional infections, damage to the underlying tendons, nerves and blood vessels… The sheer surface area of the wounds will also make recovery more difficult."

"House already disconnected the Lepirudin." Chase noted. "We just need to start the anesthesia and another push of antibiotics."

"But we'll do all we can." Foreman offered a tenuous smile. Kabuto nodded, forcing a hopeful smile across his face as well.

Chase asked the patient's partner about any more potential allergies, and when he was as satisfied as he could be with the uncertain answers, he walked over to the bedside and administered a sedative. They rolled the bed out of the room, with a vigilant Kabuto still on their heels.

The operating room itself was still empty when they arrived. Clean, sterile instruments lay waiting on two separate trays, and on a third sat the prepared xenografts. In the amount of time they had, securing and preparing a donor just wasn't feasible, nor was the patient in any condition to serve as his own.

"House will be here shortly." Foreman nodded to Kabuto, who stayed as close to Orochimaru as they would allow. By the time they had injected both propofol and fentanyl, Foreman's statement was proven right. House, showered and dressed for surgery, pushed the door open with his back,

"Just in time. We're entubating him now." Chase added. Struggling slightly with the laryngoscope, he made an offhand comment about the length of the patient's tongue. The comment, however, went largely unnoticed.

"Good." House replied. "Start the anesthesia light. It'll take a good twenty minutes to prep the arms. Then you can crank it up a notch."

Chase nodded.

"Foreman, you'll be assisting."

House didn't wait for the patient to fall completely under. As soon the shinobi on the table was receiving oxygen and his vitals were holding stable, he started unwrapping the bandages on the right arm. House glanced at Foreman, who took the unspoken cue to begun unwrapping the left arm just as quickly.

Under the harsh glow of the operating room lights, their patient's arms looked even worse. To the untrained eye, they were dead. The purple, necrotic skin cracked and peeled away from itself, a noxious mixture of blood and pus oozing out as the bandages were removed. To the trained eye, they weren't much better. Most doctors would say they were unsalvageable. Chase and Foreman weren't sure what was worse – the necrosis itself, or the fact that getting rid of it would leave behind gaping wounds stretching over a fourth of the patient's body. If they were working for anybody other than special jonin House, they would have called this a lose-lose situation. But to House, there was no such thing. There were only questions and answers, puzzles and solutions.

Foreman would have pondered that possibility longer, but as he untangled the gauze around the patient's left arm, something unexpected caught his eye.

"House…" he studied the patient's entire left arm.

"It took you that long to notice?" House replied curtly.

"Notice what?" Chase looked over, but didn't see anything.

"There's no ANBU tattoo."

"So? Wouldn't the necrosis just obscure it?" Chase asked, keeping most of his attention focused on the patient's vitals.

"That's what I thought." Foreman replied cautiously. "But there's one on his wrist, and the black ink is still clear as day."

"What?"

"And to think, all this time Cameron's been calling you the black Hyuga." House scoffed. "Someone needs to get their byakugan checked."

Foreman paused, and looked back at the anonymous man they'd been referring to as their patient's partner. He could sense Kabuto's heart rate increasing along with his chakra, as though he were carefully weighing the options of fight or flight. He took a small, but calculated step back.

"House..." Foreman's voice grew more concerned as he started to put the pieces together - a mysteriously ill shinobi, a secretive partner, Cameron's unusual curse mark. It couldn't be mere coincidence, and everyone in the room knew it by now. " House, if he's not really ANBU... who are we treating?"

"Nobody." Jonin Cuddy's voice echoed throughout the room. The patient and his partner instantly lost the spotlight.

A light appeared from the observation room above them, and the hospital administrator leaned toward the glass. She kept one hand firmly on the speaker button. The other was tightly gripping a thin folder.

"You all have a new assignment. Effective immediately." She announced. "Tanzaku Town. Dozens of people have fallen ill after an attack by a giant serpent. Most likely, it's the result of poison. You're all being tasked to investigate. You can be there by sunrise if you leave now."

"Don't you think we're kind of in the middle of something?" House pouted slightly and rolled his eyes. Other than that, he ignored her. He held out his hand. "Scalpel."

"Now." Cuddy barked again. The hand that clutched the file was trembling.

Foreman held the scalpel as he glanced back and forth between House and Cuddy.

"Scalpel." House repeated, even louder.

"House, I order you to stop this surgery."

"Without this surgery, he's going to die." House snapped his head around just in time to see Kabuto shift his weight. Somehow, amidst the tension and the shouting, they'd earned each other's temporary trust. A stern glare from the special jonin and the other ninja held back. "Scalpel."

"House, if you don't stop this surgery immediately, you're fired."

Now it was Foreman's turn to pause.

"House, maybe jonin Cuddy has a good reason for wanting…"

"No, she doesn't." House shouted, turning his full attention to Cuddy. "And you can't fire me if I quit first."


	19. Standoff

The monitors beeped three times. Nobody moved.

Cuddy stood frozen in the observation room for a moment. Her jaw dropped. She wasn't sure whether House was calling her bluff or egging her on. Either way, she lost what was left of her forced composure.

"House… you… you insane... egotistical… if healing the likes of Orochimaru just to satisfy your own curiosity is more important to you than…than…" she stuttered, but couldn't finish. A scalpel fell to the floor as Foreman leapt away from the table. Chase just froze. House ignored both of his own subordinates, in favor of catching Kabuto around the arm with his cane before he could do anything rash.

Cuddy suddenly realized what she said, and clasped her hand over her mouth.

"Orochimaru?" Chase shouted, flabbergasted. "We're treating Orochimaru?"

"You _knew_ we were treating Orochimaru?" Foreman's eyes darted from person to person, hardly believing what he was seeing.

"You _didn't_ know we were treating Orochimaru?" House answered sarcastically. "Come on. Cameron figured it out fast enough."

The crude emphasis on her name made both Chase and Foreman seethe.

"You mean that's how she got cursed?" Chase glared at House with a look that could kill. "And you _knew_ it was going to happen?"

"That's a new low! Even for you."

"Oh, calm your whining, both of you." House rolled his eyes. "She stayed in that room alone by her own free will. If anyone made a mistake it was him."

House glared at Kabuto, who, in the heat of it all, had moved dangerously within striking distance.

"Cameron always did have a flair for the bad boys. She slept with me, after all." House added tactlessly. "Even without the curse, she wouldn't have told your little secret. And if you two aren't prepared enough to handle a S-rank criminal who can't even muster the strength to sit up on his own, then you need to get yourself another job. You call yourselves shinobi…"

"House, this is Orochimaru!" Foreman shouted, even louder.

"Foreman! This is your patient!" House slammed his cane down on the operating table. He missed said patient by about half an inch, but the noise was more than enough to make everyone jump. "Who he is and what he's done are completely irrelevant right now. Without this surgery, he's going to die."

"How can you possibly call that irrelevant?" Foreman shouted back.

"He's the most dangerous madman the five great shinobi countries have ever seen!"

"If you two want to kill him, fine! But do it on your own time. Not mine. Right now, you're not assassins. You're doctors. And he's your patient. If you can't handle that, I suggest you start chasing snakes in Tanzaku Town."

Chase hesitated, clenching his fists. His chakra flared with righteous anger. He looked at House, then back up at Cuddy, and then at the patient one more time.

"House…"

"Don't bother." the special jonin didn't even let him finish. "I know what you're thinking. You want to launch an attack, but you know that in order to do that, you have to go through me. You don't think you can beat me, so you're just biding your time."

Chase tried to lie, but House read him like an open scroll.

"Foreman on the other hand suffers from the delusion that he actually could take me. But he's not about to try it. At least, he's not about to try it without knowing exactly what Mr. Partner over here is capable of." House continued. "Which, trust me, is a very wise decision."

Foreman and Chase shared an uneasy glance. Even with the two of them, the fight wasn't worth the chance. They knew when it came to House, that looks could be deceiving. Even crippled, he was a special jonin of incredible skill. He wasn't an opponent to be underestimated. Underestimating the other man would be equally foolish. Any weakness he displayed since arriving at the hospital was probably a lie – just like his cover story. The fact that he served Orochimaru at all suggested he was a powerful ninja. The fact that Orochimaru trusted him to act as a bodyguard while he lay incapacitated meant that he was probably one of Orochimaru's elite, someone capable of holding their own against the best of the best. It was a fight both Chase and Foreman couldn't hope to win.

"Foreman and Chase." House tore apart the silence. "Either make your move now, or get the hell out of my operating room."

This time, there was no hesitation. Chase pulled off his mask and gloves, and tossed them on the floor. Foreman did the same. Kabuto took a couple of steps forward, but House held him back. He knew which of the options his team would pick.

Chase left first, but Foreman held back for a moment.

"I hope you know what you're doing, House." He added. There was concern in his voice, but it was cold.

When the door clicked, Cuddy spoke again.

"Your team has elected to take the new mission. You can't operate on your own, House." Cuddy announced. "So that leaves you with no choice but to take it as well."

House simply shook his head.

"Nah. I don't think so."

Cuddy replied to House's shrug with indignation.

"Special jonin House, even you can't run an entire operating room by yourself!"

"I know that." House countered. "But I don't have to."

"And just who in their right mind is going to… If you think I'm coming down there to play nurse to an S-rank criminal the likes of him, you've got another thing co…"

"Don't flatter yourself." House interrupted. "I already have another assistant all lined up."

"What? Who?"

House motioned toward the man standing next to him and the other ninja feigned a look of surprise. House didn't buy it.

"You can drop the act now… Kabuto Yakushi."


	20. Surgery

It didn't matter to special jonin House whether Cuddy was watching or not. From the observation room, her bark was still worse than her bite. This wasn't the first time House displayed a blatant disregard for the rules. This wasn't the first time that House went against his leader's orders in the treatment of a patient either. And although Cuddy often warned him of strict and severe consequences, she always let him off with a mere slap on the wrist. As much as she didn't want to admit, where House was concerned, the ends usually justified the means.

"Scalpel." House picked up right where he left off.

His appraisal of the situation, however, had not rubbed off on Kabuto. While House had already turned his attention back to the operation, his new assistant stood frozen in shock.

"Scalpel!" he repeated, louder this time, enough to shake Kabuto out of his trance.

"Special jonin House…" he asked cautiously as he handed over the requested tool. "How did you…"

"Know who you were?" House finished the sentence for him. "It wasn't that difficult. You tried to play naive, but the average shinobi, even the average medical shinobi, wouldn't have done half the things you did for him. They wouldn't have given him Lepirudin at the onset of symptoms. They wouldn't have begun treating the necrosis with fresh wet-to-dry pressure bandages at least three times a day in an attempt to encourage natural debridement either."

House carefully cut through the dead flesh on Orochimaru's right shoulder.

"The use of a saline solution over antiseptic solutions was a nice touch. It helped preserve what healthy tissue is still left."

"I had to forgo all other treatment for the two days we traveled…"

"So that your story would appear to be medically plausible." House answered for him again. "And it was good enough to fool most jonin. But in case you haven't noticed, I'm not most jonin. Forceps."

Kabuto watched stoically as House pulled the skin back, exposing the soft tissue underneath. The smell leeched through the mask, and for the first time, even Kabuto felt sick to his stomach. Pus pooled freely in the open wound. Even the fatty tissue was rotten, and it was starting to become difficult to tell the putrid yellow slough from the surrounding tendons.

"I knew from the minute I looked at the file that you were lying." House confessed. "Were you as naive as you wanted us to believe, your own superior would have killed you himself. And were you anyone but an elite medical shinobi, I wouldn't have the file at all. He would have been long dead. Trust me, the average medical ninja would have floundered long enough at the onset of the curse for the clots to cause permanent damage to the surrounding muscles."

House spat all of this with a newfound surge of vitriol, and Kabuto knew the jonin spoke from experience. His curiosity was more than piqued, but House didn't dwell on that subject any longer than he had to.

"It also didn't hurt that your adoptive father was an elite Konohagakure medic in his own right." House added, almost as a side note. "Met him at a conference once. You look cuter in your baby pictures."

Kabuto flinched, but again, like the gifted surgeon he was, his hands remained steady. He had severed connections with his father, indeed his entire village when he turned spy for the Akatsuki. But at the same time, he couldn't deny his past any more than the jonin beside him.. At the moment, though, it hardly mattered. As he passed House a sponge, he realized the observation room above them was empty.

"The woman. Your superior." He whispered cautiously. "She's gone."

House glanced up, but said nothing. The fact that she was gone didn't surprise him. What surprised him was how much he was second-guessing her next move.

It was often in her nature to cave to House's wishes, creating elaborate alibi in order to cover up his unconventional decisions. This time would be no exception, House was sure of that. Knowing Cuddy, the Tanzaku Town mission log had already been doctored – Special jonin House and his cell departed from Yugakure before sundown. By placing them somewhere else, she could be certain of their safety if and when she sent word to the nearest Black Ops unit that their highest priority target is now a sitting duck.

There was just one problem – House didn't go along with it, making him an accomplice to the most wanted s-rank criminal in the shinobi world. That might be more than even Cuddy was willing to cover for.

"Take a scalpel. Start on the other side." House ordered coldly. "We may not have much more time."

Kabuto nodded.

He'd barely made an incision when the operating room door burst open. Both of the surgeons dropped their tools. A scalpel and a pair of forceps clattered against the tile with a frightening din, and for a moment, neither could see anything beyond a billowing black robe and the white ceramic mask.


	21. Reinforcements

Kabuto seized another scalpel, folding it back against his forearm as he jumped in front of Orochimaru. House, however, turned his full attention back to his patient.

The masked soldier paused to close the door, giving Kabuto just enough time to question how peculiar the situation actually was. Was there really only one of them? No village would dispatch just one shinobi, even if they were ANBU, to do battle against Orochimaru. Such a mission would be suicidal. And if there were more, Kabuto felt certain that special jonin House would have at least readied himself for combat. In going through with the operation, he had essentially marked himself a traitor. Surely he would defend his own life…

"Put that scalpel to better use, Kabuto." House finally glanced up from his work.

Still, Kabuto refused to lower his defenses, unable to shake he sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that in trusting this jonin, he had somehow walked into a trap. The soldier took a step toward House, and Kabuto matched it. House, meanwhile, just answered with an annoyed grunt.

"Even if you've had too many sleepless nights to recognize your own disguise, someone at your level should be able to sense their opponent's intention through their chakra." he mocked. "But you've messed that up before too, right?"

The soldier took off the mask.

"You've already marked me once. Try it again, and neither of you will walk out of here alive."

"She…" Kabuto stuttered. He knew all too well who she was. She was a member of House's cell, the one who recognized who they were, the most recent victim of Orochimaru's juinjutsu...

"Report?"

"I followed you after you left your office." Cameron replied quickly. "I heard everything."

"What about the others? Are they having second thoughts or are they halfway to Tanzaku Town by now?"

"Chase and Foreman are gone. They caught me on their way out the door and told me to get out before Cuddy called for ANBU reinforcements." Cameron replied, a little too calmly for Kabuto's taste. He couldn't hide the knot in his stomach or the boulder now sitting uncomfortably in his throat.

"But since you're here, I'm going to go ahead and say I didn't make a mistake when I hired you."

"I told them I would, just not with them. I said I was going to go see Cuddy about taking some well-deserved leave time." She shrugged her shoulder intentionally and cast a scathing glare in Kabuto's direction. "They couldn't argue with that. And it's a good thing they didn't."

House arched an eyebrow.

"I think I got to Cuddy's office just in time. They were right about one thing. She's arranging for a secret assassination. I'm just here long enough to make sure they weren't right about you getting caught up in the crossfire this time."

A tenuous sigh escaped Kabuto's pursed lips as he let out the breath he wasn't even aware of holding. From the sound of it, there was still more to the special jonin's past than he was willing to reveal. Strange as that seemed, the thought placated him. Trusting that, at least for the moment, they were still safe, Kabuto turned his attention back to the operation.

"How soon?"

"I don't know." Cameron shook her head dismissively. "It depends on how long it takes Cuddy to find out she's been tricked."

"You decided to try out the ANBU trick for yourself even though…"

"I told her I received a secret tip regarding Orochimaru's whereabouts from one of the guards at the village gate." Cameron interrupted her superior. "She sent me straight here."

"Did she say anything else?"

Cameron nodded.

"To be finished with the mission before dawn, so as to arouse as little suspicion as possible…"

"Then she wasn't tricked." House countered as he dropped a rotten piece of Orochimaru's forearm into a nearby basin. Kabuto immediately stopped what he was doing and stared up at House again.

"How do you know that she…"

To House, it was painfully obvious. As a jonin, it was unlikely that Cuddy would fall for such a simple disguise. The effect of the recent curse mark on Cameron's chakra was profound, especially to the one that sealed it. And of course, personal experience always counted for something.

"Last time, she warned them first. 'Don't underestimate the one with the cane. He can be a real bastard in a fight" House added with his usual arrogant grin. "Didn't do them much good, but it's the thought that counts."

His tone and demeanor quickly turned serious again.

"The only reason why she wouldn't warn you about me is because she didn't need to. She was just using you to pass along a message."

"You mean…"

"We only have until dawn to finish this, patch him back up, and get them both as far away from the village as we can. That's our mission."

Cameron glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was already a quarter past midnight.

"House, is that even possible?"

"Ask me that again in a few hours."


	22. An Unsettling Prognosis

The night stretched on as House and Kabuto continued with the operation. Cameron assisted them as best she could, while still heeding House's strict warnings every half hour about keeping her chakra in check.

If removing the necrotic flesh was a cumbersome process, attaching the graft was even more cumbersome. Even the slightest mistake could hinder recovery, and it would be weeks before any of them knew whether the muscles and tendons had escaped any further injury.

At least for the time being, they had all traded their tension for teamwork. Cameron tended the grafts. She cut pieces like pie crust, hoping the slits would minimize the risk of hematoma or seroma formation. She passed each one to House on his order, and he dressed the wounds. This was a difficult task in and of itself. With the large surface area, there was little he could actually affix them to besides another chakra-laden dermal substitute. Kabuto, meanwhile, worked furiously to prepare the bolster dressing, wrapping moistened cotton balls in petroleum gauze. He knew just as well as House that if there wasn't enough pressure on the graft, there could be a whole host of complications. Should Orochimaru develop an infection underneath the graft, not only would it fail, but it might cost him his life.

It was half past four when Kabuto pressed the last of the bolster dressing onto Orochimaru's right shoulder. Cameron was right behind him, quickly bandaging everything in place.

Then, and only then, did anyone breathe a half-hearted sigh of relief.

"We're not out of the woods yet." House warned them both. "And neither is our patient."

House had already taken the liberty of disconnecting the anesthetic, hoping to force Orochimaru into a faster recovery. Kabuto, though, kept glancing between the monitors and the clock. He could feel the sweat clinging to his brow and the knot returning to his stomach. He was beginning to grow restless.

"It isn't long until dawn, and that means the real ANBU squad will be here any minute." He finally broke the silence. House just nodded.

"You're right…" he thought for a few moments, studying the operating room. Not only were their escape routes extremely limited, but there were also just too many places a potential assassin could hide. "We can't stay here. I want both of you to take him down to the PACU."

"A recovery room? There isn't time for…"

"Until he comes around enough to breathe on his own without the endotracheal tube, none of you are going anywhere else."

"Wait!" Kabuto demanded, his voice surprisingly less firm than he would have hoped. "What about you?"

"I'm off to keep our potential welcoming committee company."

House turned on his heels and limped toward the door. Kabuto clenched his fists and started to run after him, but Cameron grabbed him by the collar.

"House knows what he's doing." She insisted. "He may not look like it, but he can handle a handful of black ops. You, on the other hand, are the only one that can handle… _him_."

Kabuto nodded. Cameron took hold of the gurney, and he simply followed her lead. Between them, Orochimaru remained peacefully unconscious. A slight rise in heart rate was the only sign that he was starting to come around.

It was strange, Cameron thought to herself, how harmless the S-class criminal looked amidst the tubes and wires. Layers of bolster dressings and bandages made his arms look exaggerated and puffy, like a baika no jutsu gone humorously wrong. They also made the rest of him look innocuously scrawny by comparison. Kabuto, on the other hand, was more captivated by the quiet, almost serene expression on his master's face. It was a far cry from the vicious, shrewd smile he often wore, and it was something that very few of Orochimaru's subordinates had ever witnessed. The feeling unnerved him, and he shuddered involuntarily. Both, however, would have agreed on one thing – right now, Orochimaru was neither monster nor god. He had never appeared more human.

"It's strange now, once you've seen it." Cameron mumbled as they entered an empty elevator.

Kabuto tilted his head toward her.

"What's strange?"

"How so many shinobi fantasize about seeing him like this." She replied softly. "Permanently, I mean."

"Unfortunately for them, Lord Orochimaru has an incredible will to live." Kabuto replied, his voice equally soft. "And once he's capable of performing jutsu again, he will be able to perform several self-healing techniques that will finish everything we started."

"You mean he'll be able find a new body." Cameron stated plainly.

"It's actually surprising that you managed to retain memories so close to the juinjutsu application." Kabuto smirked. "But no. The living corpse reincarnation jutsu won't be helpful this time."

The elevator opened on the third floor. Kabuto had expected their conversation to stop, but Cameron's curiosity got the better of her.

"Why not?"

"Like all jutsu, there are conditions that must first be met." Kabuto explained. "The amount of chakra required makes it impossible to perform the technique more than once in a three-year period. I certainly will not divulge that period of vulnerability to anyone, but let me just say that without your assistance, we would not have the luxury of biding more time. That is why I am in your debt."

Kabuto put added emphasis on that last phrase, especially on himself. How forcefully he erased his master from owing anyone anything did not go unnoticed.

"Fortunately, there are other jutsu. Body replacement techniques can be very snakelike in nature. Once he has enough chakra, he will be able to shed his skin, so to speak, and regenerate a wounded limb quite easily…"

"Careful not to get ahead of yourself." Cameron interrupted. "His chakra was severely depleted by the curse as well as the infection. It'll take at least a couple weeks, if not more, to recover enough chakra to use even a simple technique. And that's only if everything goes well."

Kabuto nodded.

"Those bandages will need to be changed every three days, sooner if you detect even the slightest hint of infection." She added, stopping abruptly when she reached the subject of graft rejection. Any medical shinobi knew that given enough time, xenografts were always rejected. The only treatment for that would be a new graft, but telling them to return for another surgery would be a death sentence. For the first time in her career, Cameron was actually thankful that the patient had a damaged immune system.

Kabuto laughed under his breath. He knew why she stopped.

"You don't need to concern yourself with acute rejection syndrome." Kabuto insisted as they reached an empty room in the center of the hallway. He held the door open as Cameron wheeled the gurney in. "I have promised many services to Lord Orochimaru. If he is in need of a donor, I will find one. If one cannot be obtained, then I will offer myself. It's that simple."

The door closed and Cameron gasped. It wasn't so much from the statement itself, but rather the natural composure with which Kabuto was able to say it.


	23. Escape

Minutes felt like hours. Dr. Cameron stood watch by the door, turning around constantly to check the oximeter and glance at the EKG. She'd already started him on morphine, but refused to push more than a tenth of a milligram. Begrudgingly, Kabuto agreed. He could always manage the pain later. Their first priority was making sure the patient was alert enough to travel on a moment's notice.

Fortunately, their instincts were correct. It wasn't long before Orochimaru opened his eyes. Almost immediately, he started fighting the tube, so Kabuto took the liberty of deflating and removing it. Orochimaru took the first of several cautious breaths, proving that Kabuto was right. His will to live was incredible.

"No signs of respiratory distress." Kabuto observed.

"Blood pressure is rising steadily. Heart rate just under 60 beats per minute." Cameron noted, keeping a safe distance from the bedside. "Body temperature still low, though."

Kabuto nodded, He took another blanket from a nearby chair, and draped it gently across his master's shivering body.

"Lord Orochimaru." he whispered, taking down the handrail and kneeling beside the bed. He brushed a few strands of black hair out of Orochimaru's face. Although his touch was soft and gentle, his tone was firm. "I believe the surgery was a success. In time, you should make a full recovery."

Orochimaru, however, was not fully lucid. He glanced in Kabuto's direction, but couldn't quite separate his subordinate from the white wall. Regardless of that fact, Kabuto continued briefing him on the situation.

"We are still in Yugakure, but we'll be taking our leave soon. I know of at least one ANBU unit closing in on our position. It's going to be close, but we can lose them. In the meantime, you will need to conserve your strength."

Orochimaru mumbled an incoherent response and then licked his lips. Still too groggy to muster a suitable gag reflex, he would have to wait before his thirst could be quenched.

"I'm afraid this will have to do for the time being." Kabuto dipped a small oral sponge in a cup of cold water, and placed it in his master's mouth. "Are you in much pain?"

Again, Orochimaru stared right through him. Kabuto smiled, but only momentarily. He looked up at Cameron, who had resumed her post at the doorway.

"Any word from special jonin House?"

"Not yet." She answered slowly, still focused on the windows across the hall. The dark sky was starting to fade. Daybreak was almost upon them. "That means everything is still…"

Her pager went off, shattering the quiet she was just about to speak of. Kabuto leapt to his feet.

"Where are they? And how long have we got?" he didn't bother waiting for the answer before disconnecting the central line. The monitors went blank, setting off a series of alarms.

"Already inside. We've got a minute, maybe two." Cameron answered quickly.

As she rushed inside to help Kabuto, something shattered the window she had been watching just a few moments before. To her surprise, the object in question was a cane, and it was followed by its owner a moment later.

The ungraceful landing masked the effort it must have taken for the special jonin to leap up to the third floor. He recovered quickly, though, finding his cane and thrusting himself back to his feet.

Kabuto meanwhile eased Orochimaru upward as gently as he could, ignoring the obvious nausea and dizziness it produced. With Cameron's help, he hoisted the dazed ninja on his back. Instinctively, Orochimaru squeezed his eyes shut. The sudden motion made his head spin, and he choked through a series of dry heaves.

"This way." House motioned. "There's three whole squads, but they should all be up on the eighth floor by now."

Kabuto slid through the open doorway. Cameron was right on his heels, draping the ANBU cloak over Orochimaru as they ran.

"Why the eighth?" she asked.

"That's where I told them to go." House smirked. He paused at the window, checking once more to make sure they coast was clear.

"But they would have been warned…"

"Not to believe me?" House laughed. "Of course. They should have expected me to lie. But instead they expected me to expect that they expected me to lie, so naturally, in an attempt to throw them off course, I'd tell them the exact floor he was on."

"Wait a minute… eighth floor... That'd put them in the middle of oncology." Cameron suddenly realized. "House, Wilson is going to kill you for that."

House, however, wasn't concerned with Wilson, or with Cameron, for that matter. If only they had more time, he thought to himself. As little as three ninety-minute sessions in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber would increase the patient's chance of recovery by more than twenty percent. Time, however, was something they didn't have, and continued therapy, at least here, was impossible.

"When you reach your own compound, continue preparing your strongest antibiotics and give them intravenously. In the meantime, take this." He opened one of the compartments on his vest and a vial slid into his hand. "Ceftriaxone. One gram, twice a day. Change the dressings after a few days, and if you find any new necrotic tissue, operate immediately."

"Understood." Kabuto replied.

"Good. Then go now and don't stop until you're past the forest." He instructed Kabuto. "The guards at the main gate are half an hour away from changing shift. They're tired enough to fall for a feather illusion jutsu with minimal effort."

A moment of silence passed between them. Kabuto, with Orochimaru safely in tow, climbed to the window and perched on the ledge.

"I have no doubt that you would find Lord Orochimaru's regenerative jutsu quite fascinating, special jonin House." Kabuto offered his sincerest gratitude through a sly smile. "If you are willing, come seek me out in Otogakure. There is much we could learn from one another. And there is much that you could learn from him."

Cameron quickly glanced at House. The special jonin only nodded, but his personal feelings were betrayed by how far he leaned into onto his cane.

"Until then," Kabuto added as he disappeared from the window. "I am in your debt."

House and Cameron stood in silence, watching them escape into the rising sun.


	24. A Question Best Left Unanswered

Several minutes passed before either of them spoke again.

"Come on. This mission is over." She tugged on his arm. "And you have another one to do in Tanzaku Town."

"… Right." He whispered, slowly turning his back to the broken glass. "Prepare adequate quantities of fluoroquinolones and third-generation cephalosporins. They've been poisoned, all right - by a bacteria called _S._ Enteritidis. The giant serpent inadvertently contaminated their water supply during its attack."

Cameron nodded. She turned to leave, but House didn't follow.

"You wouldn't really join Orochimaru…" Cameron's voice trailed off. She could see a deep sense of longing painted painfully across House's face. If there was a technique, even a forbidden one, which could not only take away the pain, but also heal a cursed leg… "… Would you?"

House replied by silently downing a small handful of vicodin.

Cameron, meanwhile, was left to wonder whether that was a yes or a no.


End file.
